Context: 101
Samuel Mudacumura Professor Loudon English 101 Sec #1 October 7th, 2014 Context: 101 In the bible, the book of Psalms Chapter 14 clearly states, “There is no God.” However, when one examines the context in which this shocking deceleration occurs, we read that it is the fool who makes this statement. In this we have a clear illustration in the importance of knowing the context in a statement. When defining context it states that it is a condition affecting the text such as what has been said about the topic. As well as other factors and constraints such as the due date and the length. Other factors include the amount of freedom one may have as a writer. In a broader sense, context may refer to any aspects of an occasion in which a speech or act takes place, including the social setting and the status of both the speaker and the person who's addressed. Sometimes called social context. Context in 'everyday life' When analyzing context we must look at the relevant information on the topic. For example, we can look at a political ad during an election. Generals such as when the ad was created and who the target audience was. If this was during the political election what were the conditions like? If they were hostile or amped up at the time or they were mellow as if it was just another day. Analyzing is all considered contextual information. Information that is vital to the information’s validity to the purpose it is supporting. When creating an analysis for a class one must consider how, when and where the structure will be used when completing this task. Most of the contextual information comes from what others have said about your topic. For example, peer reviews may produce contextual information when others view our subject and give feedback on our work in progress. So fellow English Composition 101 students may use contextual information in an effective way that is heavily involved in the writing process. Types 'of Context' Rhetorical context may include a number of different areas. Such as subject, purpose, audience, and situation. The subject of your essay is the topic and it covers what your essay is to be about. The purpose is what your essay is trying to accomplish and your answer will be the purpose of your essay. The audience is the group of individuals you are writing for. The style and context will always be dependent you actually want to be affected by your ideas. Finally, there is the situation or occasion for sitting down to write. For a composition class such as English 101 some motivators for this may be the desire to get a good grade, or the course requires you to write essays. Another example included may be when your writing a memoir as I personally did for my Narrative project. I highlighted the importance of my families relationship with a personal friend who passed away. I chose to write about that topic because it was valuable and an important part in my life. So those are different areas context may be involved in throughout composition as well as uses in future essays. Determining Context The context of your audience is a very important and may be used to impact the writing a design of your text. First you must consider the environment and setting your audience will use your text or design in. There may be constraints that your audience is under such as being distracted by a certain thing. What tools or technology is your audience using when accessing your text such as a measly cell phone or a large computer screen. Culture plays a huge role as to where they accessing your text. Is the reader living in the same type of culture as you are or are they from a different one and reading the paper in a different aspect. Other things to consider may be the impact of context use by the audience. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dtkki-owgjo -explains it all. Works Cited Lunsford, Andrea, Michal Brody, Lisa Ede, Beverly J. Moss, Carole Clark Papper, Keth Walters. Everyone’s an Author with Reading. New York: Norton, 2013. Print.